Victor Tardieu (France, 1870-1937)
Maternities
signed and dated 'Victor Tardieu Hanoi 1925' (lower left)
charcoal and chalk on paper
77.5 x 54cm. (30½ x 21¼ in.)
painted in 1925

La Métropole: la science dispense au peuple d’Annam ses bienfaits, Portrait de femme à l'éventail, Maternities, La Vaccination, La Tonkinoise, and La Vietnamienne à l'Enfant are Victor Tardieu's subjects defined for the major fresco 160m2 to compose an ode on progress.

Some commentators – superficial – found in this work what they will call a "colonial" message. However, it is easy to distinguish on the eminently Vietnamese Cong Tam Quan portal, on two columns, the following sentences written in Chinese: "The elites are the essence of the country. The university is the foundation of education."

Further, at the bottom of the work, a Latin sentence is inscribed: "Alma mater, ex te nobis, dignitas, libertas, Felicitas" (supreme mother, it is from you that we receive dignity, liberty and happiness). From this immense composition, an ode to education and progress, the image of love, femininity and Vietnamese among other themes only shows Tardieu’s love for Vietnam.